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Ingrid Burrington explains the symbols on a manhole cover
Burrington: Manhole for Empire City Subway, a company formed in 1891 to manage NYC's underground communication infrastructure.
In New York City, the internet is everywhere. Literally. Wi-Fi, emanating from refurbished phone booths, fills the air between skyscrapers, spraypainted symbols expose wire under the sidewalk, and gaping holes at busy intersections reveal caverns of cables.
New York is a global cultural, communication, and technological hub. The technologies that power the city's pulse are, said author Ingrid Burrington, "hiding in plain sight." In Networks of New York, a book her publisher calls a "field guide to urban internet infrastructure," the Brooklyn-based author deciphers mysterious symbols on the street and in the air that city-dwellers briskly pass every day.
To learn about the connected city, Burrington interviewed a number of the network engineers who maintain the city's network. "Different types of network administrators have different types of culture," she explained. "Verizon street workers installing fiber are different from data center workers. But they all have cool stories about how the internet works, from their perspective."
SEE: Interview questions: Wireless network engineer (Tech Pro Research report)
The book also contains several dozen images and interpretative explanations of network infrastructure on the street and in the air. In the book, Burrington explores NYPD's city-wide surveillance system, Wall Street's high-speed financial networks, and lower Manhattan's massive data center.
Burrington's background is rooted in technology culture. She's reported about the web for The Atlantic, The Nation, and ProPublica, and her internet-influenced art has been displayed at galleries in New York, Tokyo, and Leipzig. "I'm curious about interconnected systems," she said, "and New York is kind of the ultimate interconnected system."
Innovation Newsletter
Be in the know about smart cities, AI, Internet of Things, VR, AR, robotics, drones, autonomous driving, and more of the coolest tech innovations. Delivered Wednesdays and Fridays
Sign up todayRead more
- How the NFL and its stadiums became leaders in Wi-Fi, monetizing apps, and customer experience (TechRepublic)
- Smart cities: 6 essential technologies (TechRepublic)
- The world's smartest cities: What IoT and smart governments will mean for you (TechRepublic)
- How to build an external GPU for 4K video editing, VR, and gaming (TechRepublic)
- Google Deepmind AI tries it hand at creating Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering cards (TechRepublic)
- How Google's DeepMind beat the game of Go, which is even more complex than chess (TechRepublic)
Image: Dan Patterson
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Ingrid Burrington explains the symbols on a manhole cover
Burrington: Manhole for Empire City Subway, a company formed in 1891 to manage NYC's underground communication infrastructure.
In New York City, the internet is everywhere. Literally. Wi-Fi, emanating from refurbished phone booths, fills the air between skyscrapers, spraypainted symbols expose wire under the sidewalk, and gaping holes at busy intersections reveal caverns of cables.
New York is a global cultural, communication, and technological hub. The technologies that power the city's pulse are, said author Ingrid Burrington, "hiding in plain sight." In Networks of New York, a book her publisher calls a "field guide to urban internet infrastructure," the Brooklyn-based author deciphers mysterious symbols on the street and in the air that city-dwellers briskly pass every day.
To learn about the connected city, Burrington interviewed a number of the network engineers who maintain the city's network. "Different types of network administrators have different types of culture," she explained. "Verizon street workers installing fiber are different from data center workers. But they all have cool stories about how the internet works, from their perspective."
SEE: Interview questions: Wireless network engineer (Tech Pro Research report)
The book also contains several dozen images and interpretative explanations of network infrastructure on the street and in the air. In the book, Burrington explores NYPD's city-wide surveillance system, Wall Street's high-speed financial networks, and lower Manhattan's massive data center.
Burrington's background is rooted in technology culture. She's reported about the web for The Atlantic, The Nation, and ProPublica, and her internet-influenced art has been displayed at galleries in New York, Tokyo, and Leipzig. "I'm curious about interconnected systems," she said, "and New York is kind of the ultimate interconnected system."
Innovation Newsletter
Be in the know about smart cities, AI, Internet of Things, VR, AR, robotics, drones, autonomous driving, and more of the coolest tech innovations. Delivered Wednesdays and Fridays
Sign up todayRead more
- How the NFL and its stadiums became leaders in Wi-Fi, monetizing apps, and customer experience (TechRepublic)
- Smart cities: 6 essential technologies (TechRepublic)
- The world's smartest cities: What IoT and smart governments will mean for you (TechRepublic)
- How to build an external GPU for 4K video editing, VR, and gaming (TechRepublic)
- Google Deepmind AI tries it hand at creating Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering cards (TechRepublic)
- How Google's DeepMind beat the game of Go, which is even more complex than chess (TechRepublic)
Image: Dan Patterson
By Dan Patterson
Dan is a Senior Producer for CNET and CBS News.